Vice President Mike Pence addresses the crowd at the Pence Tribute Gala.
Vice President Pence and his wife, Karen, are being honored at the Pence Tribute Gala, by the Indiana Society of Washington, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Five of the Second Lady's watercolor paintings are being auctioned to benefit the Riley Art Therapy Program at Children's Hospital in Indianapolis.(Photo: Jasper Colt, USAT)

WASHINGTON — Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb bestowed upon his predecessor the state’s high civilian honor Monday night — a Sagamore of the Wabash — and Vice President Pence sent the love right back to his home state.

“The hardest part of this job is we can’t do it from Indiana,” Pence said at a tribute dinner to the vice president and his wife organized by the Indiana Society of Washington.

The dinner also benefited the art therapy program at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. Prints of five of Karen Pence’s watercolors were auctioned off for a combined $12,800 for the hospital, an amount the Indiana Society matched with an equal contribution.

“Thank you all for outbidding me on my wife’s paintings — which wasn’t hard,” Pence quipped after the winners were announced. (Those taking home a print included veteran Indiana lawyer and lobbyist Bob Grand and Steve Ferguson, chairman of the board of Cook Group.)

Five of Second Lady Karen Pence's watercolor paintings are being auctioned to benefit the Riley Art Therapy Program at Children's Hospital in Indianapolis. The painting are named (from left) "Cardinal in Snow," "Ball Jar with Flowers," "Indiana Statehouse," "Capitol Dome," and "Peony."
Vice President Pence and his wife, Karen, are being honored at the Pence Tribute Gala, by the Indiana Society of Washington, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.(Photo: Jasper Colt, USAT)

Vice President Mike Pence kisses his wife, Second Lady Karen Pence, at the Pence Tribute Gala.
Vice President Pence and his wife, Karen, are being honored at the Pence Tribute Gala, by the Indiana Society of Washington, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Five of the Second Lady's watercolor paintings are being auctioned to benefit the Riley Art Therapy Program at Children's Hospital in Indianapolis.(Photo: Jasper Colt, USAT)

Cook Group, Anthem, Eli Lilly, and Rolls Royce were among the Indiana businesses that helped sponsor the event, held in the great hall and mezzanine of the National Museum of Women and the Arts.

Black-tied guests walked up white marble staircases for a champagne reception before sitting down to dinner under crystal chandeliers and around tables topped with peonies, Indiana’s state flower.

Pence recognized current and former members of Indiana’s congressional delegation who attended, as well as some of the Hoosiers he helped bring into the Trump administration. Those included Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Surgeon General Jerome Adams and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma.

“America is back, and I’m here to tell you that Hoosiers have played a leading role in supporting President Trump’s leadership and this Congress in moving our nation forward,” Pence said.

He also called the evening a fitting tribute to his wife, Karen, whom he praised with this proverb: “Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but the woman who fears the Lord is to be praised, and let her works praise her at the city gates.”

But the main spotlight was on the vice president.

Because Holcomb was attending to the flooding in Indiana, his wife presented the Sagamore of the Wabash to Pence.

“You were all expecting someone taller, with a little more grey hair,” Janet Holcomb said as she took the rostrum.

Holcomb said her husband appreciates having Pence on speed dial, and also wanted to thank him for everything he’s done “for our family, for our state, for our country.”

Indianas First Lady, Janet Holcomb, wife of Indiana's 51st Governor, Eric Holcomb, addresses the crowd at the Pence Tribute Gala.
Vice President Pence and his wife, Karen, are being honored at the Pence Tribute Gala, by the Indiana Society of Washington, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Five of the Second Lady's watercolor paintings are being auctioned to benefit the Riley Art Therapy Program at Children's Hospital in Indianapolis.(Photo: Jasper Colt, USAT)

Pence thanked the gathering for making him feel at home.

“For heaven’s sake, March Madness is just around the corner,” he said.

Pence bragged about the basketball hoop he’s installed at the vice presidential residence, joking that: “I make people shoot baskets before we feed them.”

"That’s what we do, doggone it," he added.

Referencing the Indiana limestone in the Pentagon, the Lincoln Memorial and many other Washington buildings, Pence called the stone a metaphor for “the character and strength of Indiana” that has “strengthened the foundations of this capital city for generations.”

The Indiana Society of Washington, a social and networking group for expatriate Hoosiers, wants to apply that spirit to Indiana Plaza in hopes of making it more worthy of the name it was given nearly three decades ago.

The plaza was created during the revitalization of a decaying Pennsylvania Avenue, the thoroughfare that runs from the White House to the Capitol and is known as “America’s Main Street.”

The triangular open space was called “Indiana Plaza” because it’s located between Indiana Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue.

Vice President Quayle cut the ceremonial gold ribbon when the plaza was dedicated in 1990.

“I guess we restore that place every time there’s a Hoosier vice president,” Pence said. “We’ll get the money raised and I’ll be there for the restoration.”

The Indiana Society is working with the National Park Service, which oversees the property, along with the city’s business improvement group on ways to make the area more inviting.

Initial plans include some cosmetic changes, such as tables and chairs, to spruce up the space and make it more vibrant. While those changes could be made in time for the spring influx of tourists to Washington, the group is also exploring bigger ways to improve the plaza’s physical condition, as well as ways to tell Indiana’s story.

Working with the Park Service can be a slow process, noted Indiana Society president Stefan Bailey.

“But I think there’s a guy here who can break federal bureaucratic logjams,” Bailey said. “Together we are going to make Indiana Plaza great again.”

Contact Maureen Groppe at mgroppe@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @mgroppe.